Why car drivers don't see bikes ....
Inattention causes more motor vehicle crashes than speeding, fatigue and drink-driving put together, new research shows. The 2008 AAMI Crash Index shows driver inattention is a factor in 44 per cent of all car collisions, whereas only 37 per cent of crashes are the result of the more commonly associated factors - speed, exhaustion and inebriation.
Similarly, a series of net polls conducted by Drive.com.au. have point to the the potential magitude of the problem. The polls attracted almost 10,000 responses from Australian drivers and threw up some disturbing facts about lack of driver attention and a range of potentially fatal distractions at the wheel – including engaging in sexual acts while driving.
More than 40 per cent of the net poll respondents admitted to engaging in sexual acts behind the wheel, while 53 per cent admitted to sending or reading texts while driving. Eating was the most popular distraction, with 93 per cent admitting to snacking while at the wheel. One in five women admitted to applying make-up in their car, while 11 per cent of men used electric razors.
Over 2,500 Australian motorists were surveyed to compile the AAMI Crash Index which AAMI says demonstrates how drivers must change their behaviour to avoid accidents. AAMI spokesman Geoff Hughes said "Drivers need to make better decisions about their fitness to drive, whether it be refraining from driving when emotionally charged or consciously taking a break when fatigue sets in.
Consulting psychologist John Cheetham said busy people had a tendency to "go into auto-pilot" when they got behind the wheel of a car. "The lifestyles of working professionals, stay-at-home parents, and even secondary and tertiary students, is such that when they get in their car they have a tendency to go into auto-pilot, leaving them free to focus on everything else that is happening in their lives when they should be thinking about their driving," he said.
Mr Hughes said speed, alcohol and fatigue were still major factors in car crashes nationally. One in ten drivers surveyed admitted to exceeding the speed limit most of the time, one in three to driving when they knew they were over the alcohol limit and 15 per cent said they took different routes home to avoid being breathalysed. "This sort of willingness to get behind the wheel, when all the signs say you shouldn't, suggests some drivers are either ignorant of the law, or just plain stupid," Mr Hughes said
Chief Superintendent John Hartley, Commander of Traffic Services for NSW Police, says the incidence of people being caught talking and texting on mobile phones has risen in the past 12 months. “Using a hand-held mobile is just pure laziness with the amount of bluetooth options out there. There’s just no excuse,” he says. Close to 20,000 drivers have been caught on their mobile while behind the wheel in the last year.
“I think it is a combination of factors. People are trying to make up for lost time stuck in traffic by trying to do things on the run, like eating and putting on make-up,” he says. “People get blasé about these things, but one moment‘s lack of concentration could mean the end of your life or someone else’s,” he says. It could also mean a jail sentence if being distracted at the wheel caused the death of another driver or pedestrian. “You could be charged with dangerous or negligent driving causing death,” he says.
Police are also able to charge drivers with not having proper control of their vehicle due to a distraction such as eating. Supt Hartley says roughly a quarter of all accidents are caused by some sort of distraction in the car. Drivers using hands-free mobiles are not totally immune from prosecution either. The RTA website says: “If you don't have proper control of your vehicle because you are talking on a hands-free mobile phone you are guilty of an offence.”
Police are now routinely checking the mobile phone records of drivers involved in fatal accidents to see if they were talking or texting at the time of the crash. Mobile phones have become the number one suspect in crashes involving inattention, and are considered more dangerous than drink driving.
Another Australian study published in the British Medical Journal found that using a hand-held phone more than quadrupled the risk of an accident and that using a hands-free phone kit was almost as dangerous. Talking on a hand-held mobile phone while driving in NSW attracts a $243 fine and three demerit points.
